The Grey T-Shirt
by SuitcaseCalling
Summary: "Rin wasn't quite the type to blame things on other people, but his grey t-shirt had been missing for three days and he just knew that someone had taken it." A shirt goes missing, a surprise visit is payed to Haru's house at midnight, and a realization is made.


Rin wasn't quite the type to blame things on other people, but his grey t-shirt had been missing for three days and he just _knew_ that someone had taken it. It wasn't like he had lost it, after all. Of course he hadn't. Rin wasn't even completely sure how it was possible to lose a t-shirt. It was an article of clothing, after all; it went on in the morning and came off and went back into his drawer or got washed in the evening. There was no way it could have possibly been misplaced.

And so he came to the conclusion that someone had taken it out of his drawer at some point in the past three days. The only thing was, he wasn't exactly sure _who _it had been, and much less what they wanted with his old, slightly dirty shirt. He had no clue how it could have been taken, either. The only people that had been at his house recently were the Iwatobi swim team, who had come over on Saturday, and he was pretty sure that none of them had even been near his room. Plus, none of them had any reason to take his shirt. Really, no one at all did.

The more he thought about it, the more ridiculous the idea that his shirt had been stolen sounded to Rin. Sure, he didn't remember having put it anywhere in particular in the past week, but that didn't mean that it had been stolen. People didn't just take shirts from other people, after all. It didn't happen.

And so, despite his initial curiosity, Rin quickly lost interest in the mysterious case of the missing t-shirt. It had just been an old shirt, after all; he didn't really care about what had become of it too much, and either way he was pretty sure it would just eventually turn up. Maybe he would ask Haru about it the next time he saw him, but it wasn't really worth worrying about. And so he didn't.

In fact, three days later, the shirt was completely out of his mind. He didn't even remember to ask Haru about it when he was over at the other boy's house.

Haru didn't really seem to be in the talkative mood tonight, anyway. Not that he normally was, but now he seemed even less reluctant to speak than usual. And it wasn't just that, either. He had been stealing these weird sideways glances at Rin all evening. For all his quietness, Haru wasn't exactly the subtle type, and Rin could tell that something was up. However, the dark-haired boy refused to tell him what exactly it was.

"Hey, Haru," Rin drawled, doing his best to seem nonchalant. "Is something up with you? You seem like you've been even quieter than usual tonight, and, uh, you keep giving me the side-eye."

Haru, however, scowled and shook his head.

"I'm sorry; I hadn't realized. No, nothing's up."

Rin wasn't quite content to leave it at that, but further questions had been met only with silence on Haru's part, and Rin could tell that he wasn't going to get anything out of him. Not tonight, at least. But maybe if he asked Makoto and Nagisa, or even Rei, they could help him get Haru to spill.

Rin glanced over at his friend, who was currently sprawled out across his bed, engrossed in his biology homework. His face was half-hidden behind jet-black hair, but what little of his it that was visible was blank. Unlike Nagisa or even Mako, who both tended to wear their hearts on their sleeves, Haru was troublingly unreadable. He always had been, really. Even when the two of them were just kids, he would always have that detached look on his face.

Rin exhaled silently before looking grabbing his cell phone and checking the time.

"Well, Haru, I know you would love for me to stay longer, but it's like 10:30 now and I've got to get home. Hopefully we're both ready for our tests tomorrow, though."

"I hope so, too." Rin grinned, and Haru smiled slightly. "I'll see you on the weekend then, Rin."

Rin shoved his stuff into his backpack, slinging it over his shoulder as he made his way to the door. With one final "Good night!", Rin slipped out of Haru's bedroom. Before leaving the house entirely, though, he paused, sighing. "What on earth is up with him?" he breathed. Unsurprisingly, nobody answered, and so very quietly, Rin walked downstairs and out the front door.

A cool breeze was blowing as Haru stood at the bus stop. The sky was cloudy and starless and every window in sight was completely dark and in that moment, Rin felt very much alone. He tilted his head back staring up at the pitch-black heavens. But if they were indeed the heavens, then heaven was quite empty. Only the faintest glimmer of the November moon was visible through the light cloud cover; barely any light at all.

Rin was wondering where exactly the bus was when he was suddenly taken by the feeling that he was forgetting something. It didn't take him too long to figure out what, either: his biology textbook. It was still lying on the floor next in Haru's room next to his desk. _Shit._

Normally, Rin wouldn't have any issues with blowing off his homework. In fact, he would welcome any excuse at all not to have to do it. But he couldn't do that this time. His biology semester final was in two days, and Rin absolutely needed to do well on it. Mikoshiba had made it very clear to him that everyone's spots on the swim team were conditional on their good grades, so if Rin failed this test, he would be running the risk of not swimming any more this year. And not swimming would mean that he would see Haru even less. That wasn't going to happen.

_Maybe Haru is still awake, _Rin told himself as he turned on his heel and started back down the street to Haru's house. _Or maybe not. But it's only, uh, 11 PM. That's not too late, right? His parents are out tonight, so hopefully I can just sneak in without waking anyone up._ _Right?_

Still, Rin hesitated when he got to Haru's doorstep. His hand paused over the door handle as he looked to the bell, wondering if he should ring. Finally, he set his jaw and, trying to project an air of decisiveness, grabbed the handle. As the door swung open, it nearly slammed into the wall before Rin stopped it. _Whoops, _he thought. _A little bit too decisive, maybe. Just keep moving, Rin._

Doing his best not to make any noise, Rin crept over to the stairwell. He placed one foot very carefully on the bottom step, and it creaked, seemingly deafening in the otherwise silent house. His eyes widened and he jerked the foot back immediately. Shit, that was loud. Had it always been that loud? Maybe it would be better just to go home and get the book tomorrow.

No. Unacceptable. Rin had come this far, and he was not about to let a goddamn staircase get between him and the perfect grade he was totally going to get on his biology test. "Sorry, Mom, but I was too scared to walk up some stair to get my textbook and that's why I failed biology." No way. Rin was going to persevere. That was what Seijuro had told Rin to always do, ever so enthusiastically, when Rin was brand new to the swim team, and if it worked for swimming then it was going to work for this.

Rin realized he had been standing completely still at the bottom of the stairs for quite some time now. Squaring his shoulders, he grabbed the railing and put his foot back on the bottom step, this time continuing upwards despite the creaking. He did his best to step lightly, shuddering to think of what would happen if Haru woke up. Even if Rin did have a reason, there wasn't really any way to excuse creeping into someone's house at the dead of night. He probably should have rang the doorbell.

_Persevere_, Rin reminded himself as he reached the top of the stairs. There, Haru's door, halfway down the hallway, stood ajar, though it was hard to see what was inside due to the darkness. _At least there's one part of the house that isn't trying its hardest to screw me over_, he thought. _Having to open a noisy-ass door would probably be even worse than those stairs. _Rin set his backpack down on the floor ever so gently before slipping in.

The first thing he noticed about the bedroom was how light it was inside. The big window opposite Haru's bed looked out on a bigger street than the one Rin caught the bus at, and it had a lot more streetlamps and neon signs. Their light streamed into the room, half-illuminating Haru's desk, bed, the collection of plastic marine animals Makoto had gotten him when they were eight, and most importantly, one biology textbook, laying across the room on Haru's floor. Rin breathed in once, very deeply, and crept towards it as carefully and quietly as he could muster. _At least the floor doesn't creak._

Once the textbook had been reclaimed and was returned to its rightful owner and steadfast companion, Rin allowed himself a glance over to the bed where Haru slept. He was curled up on his side with the blankets pulled up to his waist, and if his closed eyes and even breathing were anything to go by, then he luckily hadn't awoken. Rin would have expected him to sleep in dolphin-print matching pajamas or a swimsuit or something equally weird, but surprisingly enough he was clad in a simple grey t-shirt. It was completely plain save for a red paint splatter near the neckline, no fish print or anything. Rin was surprised, but—

Wait.

Rin's grey t-shirt, the one that had gone missing three days ago, had an identical paint splatter, from the time he had partnered up with Nitori to make a Samezuka banner for a competition. The exact same grey t-shirt, that had gone missing the day Haru had been over.

Rin's eyes widened, and as the implications sank in he could feel his face begin to turn bright red. _Shit. Why does he have my shirt? Why is he _sleeping _in my shirt. Shit, this can't mean that—no way. Oh my god._

Rin stumbled from the room, face aflame. He barely remembered to grab his backpack, and was sure that he made enough noise to raise the dead as he went down the creaky stairs and made for the front door, only allowing himself to slow down once he was outside. _Deep breaths, _he said, in the most soothing mental voice he could muster, _Calm down, Rin. _

Breathing deeply, he began to retrace his steps back to the bus stop. He wasn't blushing any more, but he still couldn't push Haru from his mind. _Seriously, _he told himself_, calm down. It probably doesn't mean anything. Should it mean anything? Do you want it to mean anything? _

"Shit," Rin swore, aloud this time. _What if I do? Godammit._ He could feel his face reddening again as he came to the bus stop. He sat down heavily on the bench, face in his hands. _No, that can't be right. He's Haru, he's my friend, I like him, but—but not like that! And it's not like he likes me either, that would be weird. Wait, but why did he have my shirt? What if he _does _like me? Do I like him? Why do I keep coming back to that?_

Pretty soon the bus came, and pretty soon Rin found himself at home, standing in his bedroom, but he still couldn't stop thinking about Haru. Even when the lights were out and he was laying in bed, staring at the ceiling, his face was still drawn into a frown. It was going to be a long night.


End file.
